You may remember something peculiar about the Obama campaign in 2008: People kept fainting at his rallies. Especially young women, standing near the stage. There were medical teams on hand to deal with this, so common an occurrence was it. Obama would interrupt the speech he was giving to comment on the recovery of the stricken fans, reassuring the crowd that all was well.

Everyone says that Mitt Romney doesn’t excite “passion.” Okay. I say, the United States isn’t a banana republic. We don’t need a Perón, Juan or Evita. We don’t need a mesmerizer on a balcony. Enough with “rock star” candidates and false messiahs. How about a decent and capable guy who can get us out of this horrible hole and let us get on with the rest of our lives?

The United States is not a drama starring the president of the United States. We’re a nation of 300 million with our own shows, so to speak. If the president is not worshipped — fine with me. Those who worship leaders ought to find something better to worship.

And yet, sure — a little theater in your politics makes life more interesting. I’m not anti-theater. I’ve been known to be a little histrionic myself. But let’s not go crazy

Palin too projects through the screen like crazy. I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, 'Hey, I think she just winked at me.' And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America.

A reader of ours writes, “When Newt won South Carolina, why did no one say it was ‘in his own backyard’? When Rick was campaigning in Ohio, why did no one point out it was a ‘neighboring state’ of Pennsylvania? Why is Romney’s wipeout win in Massachusetts less impressive than Newt’s plurality win in Georgia?”

Etc.

I have a feeling that, if Romney’s the nominee, and he beats Obama on Election Day, many in the Right blogosphere will find a way to grouse about it. Me, I’ll be dancin’ and singin’ like those Munchkins in the movie.

The Art of Swagger: The Artist, Obama, and the Republican CandidatesBy William F. GavinMarch 8, 2012 3:28 P.M.

President Obama is a swaggerer. No other word for it. Look at the way he moves across the stage, notice his little gestures, the very way he holds his head when walking. This guy is swaggering and that is not good news for Republicans. Despite the argument that the economy is the issue, we don’t vote for policies, we vote for individual human beings. And a swaggering attractiveness is one of the qualities we look for in a president. FDR, wheel-chair bound, always gave the impression of swaggering, and he was irresistible to the electorate.

This all came to me, oddly enough, while I was watching the Academy Award–winning movie, The Artist. At the beginning of this (almost) silent movie, there is a scene that sets the tone, immediately establishing the personality of 1920s movie idol George Valentin (played by French actor Jean Dujardin). At the end of a screening of one of his movies, Valentin comes on stage to receive the adulation — indeed, the adoration — of the audience. From the moment he appears, he shows off shamelessly. He glides like a dancer — which he is — and moves as if everything in the world belongs to him, which, in that moment, it does. He is a star, and the only word that can convey what he is doing is swaggering. It is this swagger, much more eye-catching and attractive than a mere strut, that makes him a star, and it is his stardom out of which his swagger emerges. When he loses his stardom he moves differently, slowly, hesitantly, as if he is lost, which, of course, he is.

"there wasn’t much in the way of internal opposition to Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, or Mao. The German, Russian, Italian, and Chinese peoples were quite enthusiastic about the evil men and evil systems that ruled them."